The move to area council elections in Manteca is having an unexpected side effect — uncontested City Council elections.

With the deadline for filing candidacy papers with the prerequisite signature of eligible registered voters being today at 5 p.m., Manteca is poised to have an uncontested council race for the second consecutive election cycle.

That race is Area 1 in southwest Manteca where the only candidate so far is Charlie Halford, a council incumbent elected during the city’s final at-large council election four years ago.

Meanwhile in Area 2 in southeast Manteca, a third possible candidate has emerged.

Gabriel Galletta on Thursday took out nomination papers.

He has until 5 p.m. today to return the papers with the required signatures of registered voters that must be verified by the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters.

Regina Lackey and Judith Blumhorst have already qualified to appear on the Nov. 5 ballot for the Area 2 seat.

If Halford ends up being the only Area 1 candidate, it will mark the first time since 1960 — if not ever — in Manteca’s history where a council seat was uncontested.

The last time was in 2022 when the first area election was conducted when the at-large incumbent Dave Breitenbucher who was first elected in 2018 won the Area 3 seat by default.

That means 50 percent — or 2 of 4 — of the at-large races so far will not be contested.

In past election cycles when two council seats were up for election, the fact there were three or more candidates made the race competitive for both seats.

Making it feasible for more people to run because it is no longer as expensive as a  citywide campaign has been the part of the bedrock arguments of the statewide movement toward area elections.

The others have been the chance for more diversity that reflects community makeups and more localized representation.

In a twist of irony, the first election with voting by districts in Manteca that was designed to increase ethnic group representation on the City Council left the elected body briefly with no Hispanics on board.

Gary Singh defeating Ben Cantu in 2020 plus Jose Nuno’s decision not to seek re-election created the void.

The new council at their first meeting in December 2022 opted to appoint Nuno which put one Hispanic on the council as defined by the 2002 California Voting Rights Act.

Overall based on the 2020 census. 41 percent of Manteca’s population is Hispanic, 35 percent non-Hispanic white, 15 percent Asian-American and 5 percent Black.

Based on that the council that was seated prior to the 2020 election essentially reflected the ethnicity makeup with Cantu and Nuño being Hispanic accounting for 40 percent of the council composition and 41 percent of the population, Charlie Halford and Breitenbucher being white account for 40 percent of the council composition, and 35 percent of the population, and Gary Singh being Indian that is lumped with Asian American accounting for 20 percent of the council composition and 15 percent of the population.

Mike Morowit’s election in 2020 to the Area 4 seat coupled with Nuno’s reappointment has created a council that is currently 60 percent white, 20 percent Hispanic, and 20 percent Indian-American/Asian American.

The council went from virtually mirroring the overall ethnic makeup of Manteca to tilt toward favoring whites, which is exactly what the voting rights act passed by the legislature was supposed to eliminate.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com